How Much Silver in a Complete SML Collection?

One thing I have been wondering lately is how much pure silver is in an entire collection of silver maple leaf coins? It is quite a large set of coins, so here is my calculation of how much silver you would have:

1 oz coins:
23 yearly coins = 23 oz
11 regular privy marks = 11 oz
12 Chinese zodiac privy = 12 oz
12 Western zodiac privy = 12 oz
7 coloured maples = 7 oz
3 hologram maples = 3 oz
3 Olympic coins = 3 oz
15th anniversary of loonie = 1 oz
2 lighthouse coins = 2 oz
Gold plated maple leaf = 1 oz

sub-total: 75 oz

10 oz coins:
1998 Coin = 10 oz

1/2 oz coins:
2006 Wolf = 0.5 oz

Sets:
15th Anniversary(1+.5+.25+.1+.05) = 1.9 oz
Arctic Fox(1+.5+.25+.1) = 1.85 oz
2004 RCM(1+.5+.25+.1+.05) = 1.9 oz
Lynx(1+.5+.25+.1) = 1.85 oz

sub-total: 7.5 oz

Total:
75 + 10 + 0.5 + 7.5 = 93 oz of silver

There it is! As of today, October 7 2009, a complete set of silver maple leaf coins would contain 93 troy ounces of pure silver. Based on the current price of silver as I write, $17.78 USD per troy ounce, the collection would be worth $1653.54 USD based entirely on the precious metal in the coins.

1998 Titanic Privy Mark Silver Maple Leaf

Here is my newest silver maple leaf! This one commemorates the most famous ship in the world, the Titanic. In my opinion, this is one of the nicest privy mark images of any of the silver maple leaf coins. There is also a very interesting story about the release of this coin. Even though the mintage of this coin was 26000, the coin was sold out nearly immediately. Was it that popular? Actually, a private distributor purchased nearly all of the coins thereby making themselves the only supplier of the coin. Sounds to me alot like ticket scalping, buying all of a rare product just so you can artificially inflate the prices. Luckily now the coin seems to have spread out and can be obtained through most of the usual sources, so everyone can now enjoy this wonderful coin!

Correction to Silver Maple Leaf List

Unfortunately my previous list of the entire collection of silver maple leaf coins was incorrect. The following errors were part of my list:

• The 2007 Maple of Long Life is not a silver maple leaf. It is an $8 coin that weighs less than one troy ounce. This coin is often improperly thought to be a silver maple leaf because of its name, it is similar of the other holographic, Chinese themed coins.

Sorry for the errors on my part, and if you see any more let me know. I strive to keep the most up to date and correct list of silver maple leaf coins.

My 5 Most Wanted - October 5 2009

This is a regular post I plan on doing, where I list the 5 coins that I want to get the most (and why I want them). Here is the first list. As you can probably tell, I am trying to get all of the 2009 Silver Maple Leaf coins by years end and working on the Chinese Zodiac privy mark set.

5 Most Wanted:

1. 2009 Silver Maple Leaf - This one isn't very exciting, but I'm aiming to have a silver maple leaf from every year.
2. 2009 Year of the Ox Privy - Again, I want the 2009 coins but this one is also one I need for the Chinese Zodiac set. Also rare with only 8000 minted
3. 2008 Year of the Rat Privy - A low mintage of 8000 makes this a tie for the rarest in this series.
4. 2007 Year of the Pig Privy - Again, only an 8000 mintage.
5. 2002 Year of the Horse Privy - No real reason for this pick, seems like it might be a fairly easy one to acquire. Probably because its mintage was 25000.

Great Video on American Silver Eagles

Just wanted to share this great video on American Silver Eagles. The guy does a great and very professional job talking about the history, mintage and rarities of the coin. I wish there were videos like this for other bullion coins.

The Five Lowest Mintage Canadain Silver Maple Leaf Coins

You may notice that some of the silver maple leaf coins fetch a higher price than others. Some people think that the older ones are the more valuable ones, but actually it has more to do with the mintage. The fewer coins that were produced, the rarer the coin and therefore the more people will pay for it. So what are the rarest coins? I have compiled a list of the five rarest regular issue and the five rarest privy mark coins. Expect to pay a little (or alot for the privy mark coins!) for these. Keep in mind, I compiled this list with the currently known mintage numbers so more recent coins are not included.

Regular Issue (including all up to 2007):

1. 1997 (100970)
2. 1996 (250445)
3. 1995 (326224)
4. 1992 (343800)
5. 2001 (398563)

Privy Mark (including all up to 2007):

1. 2005 Liberation of the Netherlands (3500)
2. 2004 Western Zodiac - all 12 coins (5000)
3. 2005 Victory in Europe (V.E.) Day (6998)
4. 2005 Victory in Japan (V.J.) Day (6998)
5. 2007 Year of the Pig (8000)

2009 Brandenburg Gate Privy Silver Maple Leaf

Here is the other 2009 privy SML that I got recently. This one, the Brandenburg Gate privy, is to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The gate is a well known symbol of Germany, which makes it a perfect privy mark for a coin commemorating the reunification of Berlin. Also, this coin hand a mintage of only 50000 and was only released in Germany. That makes two Europe only privy releases this year, the Brandenburg Gate and London Tower Bridge, so they aren't the easiest coins to get ahold of since there are usually several middlemen involved in the buying process. For those of you keeping score, that leave only the Ox privy and regular 2009 issue silver maple leaf for me to have all of the 2009s, since I have the Vancouver Olympics and London Tower Bridge privy already.

2009 London Tower Bridge Privy Mark Silver Maple Leaf

Another privy mark silver maple leaf for the collection! This one is the 2009 London Tower Bridge Privy SML, and was minted to commemorate the 115th anniversary of this famous landmark. This was both a low mintage and a Europe-only release, which makes it a nice coin to have in my collection. Construction on this bridge started in 1886 and finished in 1894, and it is still used by over 40000 people ever day! This is the first of the four 2009 silver maple leafs to enter my collection (along with the standard 2009, Ox and Brandenburg Gate) but certainly will not be my last (I actually have another, but will wait until tomorrow to write it up :)).

Yearly Silver Maple Leaf

I think we will all agree that the yearly regular release of the silver maple leaf is the same coin each year, just with a different date (and occasionally an updated picture of the Queen!). Other than the 1999-2000 Fireworks and 2000 Fireworks, of course, which all have a privy mark on them.

2010 Vancouver Olympics - Three Coin Set

Here are pictures of my Vancouver 2010 Olympics Silver Maple Leaf coins together. Enjoy!

Front:

Back:

Canadian Mint Fall 2009 Catalog

The Royal Canadian Mint released their Fall 2009 Catalog today. This year, however, instead of calling it Fall they called it the Festive 09 Catalog. Giving it a quick look there were only about eight new items I could find, so there wasn't too much to get excited about. Here are the new items they released:

Fine Silver

• $20 Blue Crystal Snowflake - .9999 silver with inlaid crystals (31.39 grams). 15000 mintage. A snowflake with colored crystals. Issue Price - $94.95 CAD.
• $20 Pink Crystal Snowflake - .9999 silver with inlaid crystals (31.39 grams). 15000 mintage. Same as above, but with different colored crystals. Issue Price - $94.95 CAD.
• $4 Hanging the Stockings - .9999 silver (15.87 grams). 15000 mintage. An image of children hanging stockings in front of their Christmas Tree. Issue Price - $42.95 CAD.
• $4 Dromaeosaurus - .9999 silver (15.87 grams). 20000 mintage. This is the fourth and final coin in the dinosaur collection. Issue Price - $42.95 CAD.
• $3 Return of the Tyee - .9999 silver (7.96 grams) plated with pink and yellow gold. 15000 mintage. Actually a very nice looking coin, but very expensive I find. Issue Price - $54.95 CAD.

Sterling Silver

• $15 Queen Elizabeth II - 30.0 grams. 10000 mintage. Queen Elizabeth on both the front and the back. Issue Price - Coming Soon.

Gold

• $150 Lunar Year of the Tiger - .75 gold and .25 silver (11.84 grams). 4888 mintage. 11th coin in the zodiac series. Issue Price - 638.88 CAD.

Other

• 50 cent Holiday Toy Train - Made of brass and steel. Unlimited mintage. Colored image of a toy train. Issue Price - $25.95 CAD.

Personally, the only ones I would be interested in would be the gold or silver coins. Even then, I find the coins far too expensive. For example, with the gold coin you are getting about $290 worth of gold, so you are paying almost $350 extra for the coin. With that much of a markup, I would need to really like the design (but I don't like it that much!). Have any of you bought, or are thinking to buy, any of these?

2000 Fireworks Privy Silver Maple Leaf

The interesting thing about this coin is that all of the 2000 coins came with a privy mark - "fireworks and 2000". There is another coin with a fireworks privy mark, the 1999-2000 coin, but the difference is that that coin does not have the "2000" on it.





Mintage: 403 652
Mint: Royal Canadian Mint
Purity: 99.99% silver
Weight: 1 troy ounce
Diameter: 38 millimeters
Note: All coins from this year came with the "2000 Fireworks" privy mark

Aftermarket Silver Maple Leaf Coins

I consider a set of silver maple leaf coins to only contain those produced at the Royal Canadian Mint, as I expect all collectors do. However, there are a number of coins out there (especially on eBay!) that are aftermarket. What do I mean by aftermarket? I mean they take regular issue silver maple leaf coins and alter them in some way. The most common way is painting the coins with some sort of logo, but some even go so far as to add their own privy marks. All in all, I suggest to stay away from these coins, since they are usually ruin the value of the silver coin (so it is only worth the value of the silver). Here are some known aftermarkets (but generally, if it is not on my silver maple leaf collection list it is an unauthorized coin):


I have been getting this question alot: "But I find the aftermarket coin looks nice, so why not buy it?". Well, the reason is that the sellers tout these coins are extreme rarities and often try and trick people into paying an outrageous amount for them. In fact, these coins are the equivalent of you taking a knife and carving your initials into a coin. Both might be "rare", but both are homemade and ultimately make the coin scrap metal.

Aftermarket Privy Marks:

• Year 2000 Privy - y2k with the "2k" next to each other and the "y" on top of the "2"
• Pierre Trudeau Privy

Aftermarket Painting:

• Support Our Troops - Maple leaf painted red, with a yellow ribbon that has "Support Our Troops - Appuyons nos troupes". COA issued by Top of the Line Enterprises of Canada.
• Breast Cancer Pink Ribbon - Maple leaf painted green, with a pink ribbon. COA issued by Universal Coins of Ottawa, Canada.
• Colorized Four Seasons - A four coin set, where the maples on each coin are a different colour (light green, dark green, orange, blue)
• Playing Card Symbols - A four coin set with the four playing card suits painted on as privy marks.

As always, if we are missing anything let us know!

What can we expect - 2010 Silver Maple Leaf Coins?

I was just sitting around looking at the calendar and realized that there are only a few months left in 2009. That got me wondering, what can we expect for "special" silver maple leaf coins in 2010? We have already seen all of the Olympic special issue maple leaf coins and the Chinese zodiac privy mark collection ended in 2009 with the final release, the Ox. Every year since 1998 there has been a privy mark coin and I am assuming 2010 will be no exception. My first bet would be a privy mark of the Olympic Rings, since the Royal Canadian Mint is releasing so many Olympic themed coins. Also, it is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, 200th anniversary of Chopin's birthday and 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts. Who knows those might make it also.

Another thing we haven't seen in a while is a special edition maple leaf other than the Olympics ones. The holograms and colours maples haven't had a new member since 2007, so maybe we will see something knew in those fronts.

If you have any information or ideas leave a comment and let me know!

2010 Vancouver Olympics Silver Maple Leaf - Hockey

And here it is, the last coin from the Vancouver 2010 Olympics silver maple leaf collection. This one may be the last, but it is also my favourite! As a life-long hockey player and fan this coin really speaks to me. I think if you ask anyone what sport they think of when they think of Canada, hockey is probably the answer 99.99% of the time. It is also neat that the greatest hockey player of all time, Wayne Gretzky, was number 99 and this coin features a single hockey player with the number 9999 below it (probably not intentional symbolism, but interesting anyway). If I was to recommend a person to buy any of the 2010 coins, this would be it without a doubt.



Mintage: Unlimited
Mint: Royal Canadian Mint
Purity: 99.99% silver
Weight: 1 troy ounce
Diameter: 38 millimeters
Notes: Third and final coin in the Vancouver 2010 Olympics silver maple leaf series

Canadian Silver Maple Leaf Collection List

My goal is to have a collection that includes one of each of the different versions of the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf Coins that were released. Right now I have most of the standard issue coins, but not many of the collector one. Here is a list of the various sub-collections within the collection, where I will add details on each of the coins as well as which I own.

Note: I am only adding links (and updating my totals) when I make a blog post or YouTube video about a coin. As you can imagine, I am behind on making videos on the standard maple leaves (the boring ones). I will add them eventually, don't worry!

Total Collection (9 of 100)

Yearly Coins (1 of 27)

1. 1988
2. 1989
3. 1990
4. 1991
5. 1992
6. 1993
7. 1994
8. 1995
9. 1996
10. 1997
11. 1998
12. 1999
13. 1999-2000 Dual Dated With Fireworks Privy (all had privy)
14. 2000 With Fireworks Privy (all had privy)
15. 2001
16. 2002
17. 2003
18. 2004
19. 2005
20. 2006
21. 2007
22. 2008
23. 2009
24. 2010
25. 2011
26. 2012
27. 2013

Regular Privy Marks (2 of 15)

1. 1998 RCMP
2. 1998 Titanic
3. 1998 Anniversary
4. 2000 Hanover
5. 2004 D-Day
6. 2004 Dejardins
7. 2005 VE Day
8. 2005 VJ Day
9. 2005 Tulip
10. 2009 London's Tower Bridge
11. 2009 Brandenburg Gate
12. 2012 Leaning Tower of Pisa
13. 2012 Titanic
14. 2012 Dragon
15. 2013 Snake

Chinese Zodiac Privy Marks (0 of 12)

1. 1998 Tiger
2. 1999 Rabbit
3. 2000 Dragon
4. 2001 Snake
5. 2002 Horse
6. 2003 Sheep
7. 2004 Monkey
8. 2005 Rooster
9. 2006 Dog
10. 2007 Pig
11. 2008 Rat
12. 2009 Ox

2004 Zodiac Privy Marks (0 of 12)

1. 2004 Aries
2. 2004 Aquarius
3. 2004 Cancer
4. 2004 Capricorn
5. 2004 Gemini
6. 2004 Leo
7. 2004 Libra
8. 2004 Pisces
9. 2004 Sagittarius
10. 2004 Scorpio
11. 2004 Taurus
12. 2004 Virgo

Coloured Maples (1 of 7)

1. 2001 Autumn
2. 2002 Spring
3. 2003 Summer
4. 2004 Winter
5. 2005 Big Leaf
6. 2006 Silver
7. 2007 Sugar

Hologram Maples (1 of 4)

1. 2001 Maple of Good Fortune
2. 2002 15th Anniversary of the One Dollar Loon
3. 2003 Maple of Good Fortune
4. 2005 Maple of Hope

Vancouver Olympics (3 of 3)

1. 2008 Inukshuk
2. 2009 Thunderbird
3. 2010 Hockey

Gold Plated Maples (0 of 2)

1. 2010 Olympic Hockey
2. 2008 20th Anniversary Gold Plated Maple

Non-standard Sizes (0 of 4)

1. 1998 10 Ounce Silver Maple Leaf
2. 2006 1/2 Ounce Silver Wolf
3. 2010 Piedfort Silver Maple Leaf
4. 2013 1.5 Ounce Polar Bear

Lighthouse Series (0 of 2)

1. 2004 Sambro Island Lighthouse
2. 2005 Toronto Island Lighthouse

Wildlife Series Coins (0 of 6)

1. 2011 Timber Wolf
2. 2011 Grizzly
3. 2012 Cougar
4. 2012 Moose
5. 2013 Pronghorn Antelope
6. 2013 Wood Bison

Sets (1 of 6)

1. 2003 15th Anniversary of the Silver Maple Leaf 5 Coin Set (1 oz, 1/2 oz, 1/4 oz, 1/10 oz, 1/20 oz)
2. 2004 Arctic Fox 4 Coin Set (1 oz, 1/2 oz, 1/4 oz, 1/10 oz)
3. 2004 Royal Canadian Mint 5 Coin Set (1 oz, 1/2 oz, 1/4 oz, 1/10 oz, 1/20 oz)
4. 2005 Canada Lynx 4 Coin Set (1 oz, 1/2 oz, 1/4 oz, 1/10 oz)
5. 2010 Gold plated Olympic Set (1 oz, 1 oz, 1 oz)
6. 2013 25th Aniiversary of the Silver Maple Leaf 5 Coin Set (1 oz, 1/2 oz, 1/4 oz, 1/10 oz, 1/20 oz)

Am I missing any? Did I not categorize things properly? Let me know, I want to make this list as complete as possible!

2009 Thunderbird Vancouver Olympics Silver Maple Leaf

Here is the next one! This is the 2009 version of the silver maple leaf which commemorates the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. It features a Native Canadian Thunderbird design, and the Thunderbird actually approximates the shape of a maple leaf! The artist, Rick Harry, is from Squamish, BC, which is fairly close to Vancouver. I think this is a very sharp looking coin, and I'm very impressed with the Vancouver Olympics Silver Maple Leaf collection!

Mintage: Unlimited
Mint: Royal Canadian Mint
Purity: 99.99% Silver
Weight: 1 troy ounce
Diameter: 38 millimeters
Notes: Second of three special 2010 Olympic silver maple leaf coins

2008 Inukshuk Vancouver Olympics Silver Maple Leaf

This coin is a variation of the design of the silver maple leaf to commemorate the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In total there are three coins in this series: the 2008, 2009 and 2010 versions. The 2008 version has the standard silver maple leaf we know and love rotated slightly with the Olympic rings, "Vancouver 2010" and an Inuit inukshuk displayed. This coin was a must have for me since I am a big fan of the Olympics to begin with, and am especially excited since it is in my country.

Mintage: Unlimited
Mint: Royal Canadian Mint
Purity: 99.99% Silver
Weight: 1 troy ounce
Diameter: 38 millimeters
Notes: First of three special 2010 Olympic silver maple leaf coins

A Half Dozen New Coins

I went on a bit of a shopping spree today and added 6 new coins to my collection. Stay tuned as I will post some photos and write-ups over the next few days!

My Sterling and Junk Silver Collection

This list will be updated as I get new sterling silver coins (92.5% silver) or junk coins (lower than 92.5%...usually coins that were circulation coins in the past). In each list, coins will be listed in the order I get them. Mostly this will be composed of international coins when bullion coins are not available. Also, I will have some older circulation coins that are interesting.


Sterling Silver Coins (2 coin)

• 1983 Yugoslavia Silver 100 Dinars - 1984 Olympic Figure Skating
• 1974 Sierra Leone Silver 1 Leone - 10th Anniversary of the Bank of Sierra Leone (1964-1974)  

Junk Silver Coins (1 coin)

• 1957 Egypt 10 Piastres

1983 Yugoslavia Silver 100 Dinars - 1984 Olympic Figure Skating

This coin is the first coin of mine that represents places I have visited. I have visited areas of the former Yugoslavia quite a bit - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia mostly. The place I have been most often is the city Sarajevo, which is why I got this coin that was produced to mark the 1984 Olympic Winter Games in Sarajevo. I really like this coin and will have to see if I can find some other '84 Olympic coins.






Mintage: 110000
Mint: National Bank of Yugoslavia
Purity: 92.5% Silver
Weight: 13 grams
Diameter: 30 millimeters
Notes: Came with case and certificate of authenticity

2005 Silver Maples Leaf of Hope

Here is one of the first coin in my collection. I was out shopping and popped into a local coin store, I think the first time in a long time that I've ever been one, and bought this one on a whim. Why this one? Well the price seemed reasonable and I liked how it looked, so I decided to get it. This was really a spur of the moment purchase, but I liked it so much it made me want to start getting more collector coins as a hobby.





Mintage: 25000
Mint: Royal Canadian Mint
Purity: 99.99% Silver
Weight: 1 troy ounce
Diameter: 38 millimeters
Notes: Came with red clamshell case and certificate of authenticity

About My Collection

I have been investing in gold/silver for quite a while but am faily new to coin collecting, so I thought I would create this blog to show off my collection and interact with other collectors. My interests in coin collecting is primarily in fine gold and silver coins (0.99 or greater purity), although my collection is very limited right now! Mostly I see myself collecting three types of coins:

- Canadian Silver Maple Leaf coins. These are some of the purest silver coins around, and I would like to have a nice collection of different types. I have quite a few of the bullion versions of these coins, but far fewer of the collector coins.
- Silver coins from countries I have visited
- Other fine silver coins from the major bullion producing countries like USA, China, Australia, South Africa, etc.

Stay tuned for more updates about my current collection!